Ensuring the Runner-Up for Your Job Doesn't Hijack Your Authority

By Joann S. Lublin

The good news: You accepted a terrific job offer. The potential
bad news: You must supervise the internal runner-up for your
spot.

Amid a buoyant job market, the problem appears to be
spreading. "Anyone who comes into a moderately senior
position will probably encounter resistance and possibly
resentment from the passed-over insider," says Richard
Guha, a partner for a small brand consultancy in San
Marino, Calif., who has run into the dicey dilemma twice.
"A lot of people don't recognize it until it's too late,"
he notes.

How can you make sure the loser doesn't hijack your
authority, give you wrong information or otherwise derail
your effectiveness as an outside hire?

To avoid being sabotaged, you should come well informed
about your selection. "Find out all you can about what was
behind your being brought on board over the inside
contender," says Sheryl Spanier, a New York leadership
consultant. Ask your boss why he didn't pick that
individual and how to best use her talents, she suggests.

It's equally important to discover whether upper management
appeased the defeated employee with a raise. The gesture
may make that person "feel newly empowered and less willing
to cooperate," says Vince Thompson, an Internet business
adviser and former AOL executive.

After an energy company wooed Mr. Guha to lead a key
division, the industry novice belatedly learned he had been
chosen over a staffer who was a long-time friend of the
founder and board chairman. The vanquished official soon
complained to the chairman that Mr. Guha would wreck the
enterprise. "He thought he had the right answers and I was
the wrong answer," Mr. Guha remembers. He believes the
badmouthing hurt his effectiveness.

If a prior relationship allows a spurned contender to
circumvent you, try to "get your boss's help in making sure
that the employee is sent back to you," Ms. Spanier says.
In Mr. Guha's case, the chairman refused to curb his chum's
misbehavior.

So, a month after he arrived, Mr. Guha took matters into
his own hands. He solicited business insights from the
disgruntled official over dinner once a week. The man
stopped whining to the chairman, his cooperation improved
and the division flourished. Their weekly or monthly meals
lasted a year. Mr. Guha now wishes he had inaugurated the
dinners right away -- "before the resentment could build
up."

An immediate, frank chat with the passed-over prospect
about his disappointment and career goals can also defuse
the sticky situation. Act empathetic without naively
assuming you will become friends. In discussing the
associate's definition of personal success, stress that you
value his abilities but you are the boss, recommends Barb
Bridendolph, president of Crenshaw Associates, a New York
career-advisory boutique. "Otherwise, you set false
expectations that this role can be shared."

During her initial nine weeks with a Pennsylvania
management-consulting firm, a senior vice president lacked
time for a heart-to-heart chat with Paul Forti, a middle
manager and psychologist rebuffed for her job. Being
ignored by the new boss exacerbated his pain at being
passed over, he recalls.

Dr. Forti deliberately kept his distance, never
volunteering information. When consulting clients inquired
about the executive, he curtly replied: "She is senior to
me. She is obviously competent." But he told work buddies
that he doubted she was the right pick. "I didn't want her
to succeed," says Dr. Forti, now a management psychologist
in Morristown, N.J. "That really hurt us both." He found
himself testy with private-practice patients, while the
senior VP "was always a little on edge."

A fall on the ice broke the ice. Dr. Forti saw his
supervisor tumble as she emerged from her car one snowy
morning. He rushed outside to help. "I'd really like to get
to know you," the grateful executive said. They ate lunch
together that day for the first time. She explained how
much she respected him and promised they would operate as
equals, according to Dr. Forti. Afterward, "we worked well
together," he says.

Things improved partly because the senior VP offered Dr.
Forti first crack at plum client assignments and touted his
expertise when they made new-business pitches. Finding
attractive opportunities for a rejected but well respected
insider to shine is a good idea, career coaches advise.

The approach transformed one newcomer's possible opponent
into an ally. A former international director of a Los
Angeles skin-care manufacturer says the concern hired her
for the new post rather than elevate its experienced head
of international marketing. Aware of her young colleague's
talents, the recruit agreed to make the lieutenant
responsible for all of Europe.

The new executive also persuaded her boss to send workers,
customers and suppliers a letter describing the plans to
expand the marketer's duties. As a result, the
ex-international director notes, "I had somebody 100%
dedicated to being successful rather than trying to find a
way to sabotage me."

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